For a moment it appeared that Josh Gordon‘s season is over. On Wednesday, the Patriots placed the wide receiver on injured reserve with a knee injury (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Field Yates). However, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweeted out that Gordon believes he is close to returning to play. Garafolo opines that “he’s likely done with the #Patriots but could be available for teams as a free agent soon.”
According to Albert Breer of MMQB.com, that a source says Gordon should be medically cleared to play soon. Mentioning that his injury is minor and he recently ran at 22 miles per hour on a treadmill in a recent workout.
Gordon was forced out of the Patriots’ Thursday night win over the Giants a few weeks back and was unable to take the field against the Jets. The Pats did just fine without him against Gang Green, but the injury pushed them to trade for Falcons receiver Mohamed Sanu on Tuesday. At the time, the trade was a bit of a head-scratcher. Now, it makes more sense. The Patriots are down a second-round pick after the deal, but they have a quality replacement for Gordon in Sanu.
This development is the next chapter in Gordon’s rollercoaster career. Back in 2013, Gordon was asserting himself as one of the best receivers in football. Even within a mediocre Browns offense, Gordon made 87 receptions for nine touchdowns and a league best 1,646 receiving yards. What fans at the time failed to realize was Gordon’s ongoing battle with substance abuse.
Gordon’s difficulties with substances, especially marijuana, combined with the NFL’s severe substance abuse policy led him to receive numerous suspensions, including a year long ban for the 2015 season. He attempted to return to the Browns in 2016, but failed another drug test and eventually stepped away, missing another season.
He finally returned to the field in 2017 where he appeared in five games for Cleveland and hauled in 18 receptions for 335 yards. In 2018, after starting the season with the Browns, the Patriots decided to take a flier on the receiver and he was in the midst of a productive season before he once again had to step away from football for his own mental health.
The future is once again uncertain for Gordon. Assuming the Patriots do grant Gordon’s release, now that Sanu and Emmanuel Sanders have been traded, other teams in the market for receiving upgrades would surely line up to give Gordon another opportunity.
Oh nooooo
Holy chit. Knew this was it
He wasn’t really contributing much. Not a huge loss.
Exactly adding Sanu and with Harry coming off IR not a major thing
He wanted to be judged based on what he did this season…
Well, if it goes like it has in the past, he should eventually test positive again.
My guess, alresdy has
Idk if I’d say Sanu is going to become his top target
Neither was Gordon Edelman is
Yeah, who wrote this? Edelman is hands down Brady’s favorite. Plus everyone here in New England has been screaming that BB needs to trade for another quality receiver pretty much all year, so how was the Sanu trade a head scratcher?
He’s not done for the season — he’s done with the Patriots. As soon as he’s medically cleared, he’s going to be released and can sign with any team. He’s already running on a treadmill at 22 mph, so it probably won’t be long.
Source?
I would assume he’ll resign next year after everything this franchise has done for him, prolly a base contract with good incentives to prove himself healthy and clean.